It is a tale of drugs, violence, corruption. Los Zetas is one Mexican group of violent criminals. They deal in drugs, engage in violence against enemies, and are a scourge on Mexico. Smuggling drugs into the US, selling drugs both in the US and in Mexico, they rely on corrupt officials to lubricate their operations. This guy is, according to a website I found but which I am reluctant to rely on much, the killer of Valentin Elizalde. And El Universal states that this slug was probably (Es ‘El Hummer' probable ejecutor de Valentín Elizalde) the assassin of Elizalde. Arrested in Reynosa on 7 November 2008, he was taken out of the city quickly, and taken before federals in Mexico City. There, he sang, spilling details of how Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel, which seems to be enmeshed, overlapping organizations operate. One major component of said operations is police protection.

Stratfor has an interesting article about the arrest. One item of particular interest is the statement that various Zetas are army deserters.

One of 31 ex-soldiers who founded the group of assassins Los Zetas (The Zees), only felt safe in Reynosa (state of Tamaulipas, near the Mexico-Texas border), one of the zones under the control of the Gulf cartel.

He, one of the most feared sicarios, was caught by surprise in his own house, and all he could do was hide under his bed. Considered one of the toughest Zetas, when he heard voice yell to him “Sal de ahí, entrégate” (get out of there, surrender). Without a way to escape, he surrendered, coming out from under his bed.

Obviously the Universal reporter is using language deliberately, to emphasize how a feared assassin hid under his bed, to ridicule him. I, who am not Mexican, but who have visited the country three times and follow news about Mexico on a daily basis, am sad, even angry, over how criminals are sowing fear and violence, damaging that beautiful country. So I can begin to imagine what this journalist is feeling by reading his story. It continues.

Surrendering to the federals, who wasted no time in getting him on to one of their vehicles and getting him out of the city (Reynosa). Outside, a posse of his accomplices began to arm themselves to make an attempt to rescue The Hummer, but nothing impeded his arriving at the airport to be moved to Mexico City and being presented before attorneys of SIEDO.

According to the Hummer, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén continues in charge of the Gulf cartel. He insists that his power has not been extinguished in the many yeas he has been in jail, for the men of whom he was in charge and the criminal structure that he built before his capture continues under his orders.

The Hummer affirmed that Cárdenas Guillén is, until this day, the maximum chief of this criminal organization, which continues operating with police protection. And that's the nexus of this problem: narcos are protected by people in power.

In effect, the leader being jailed has not prevented the gang from operating, or even from expanding. Others have taken lkeadership of the Zees.

El 7 de noviembre, cuando fue arrestado, concluyó el historial criminal que le atribuyen las autoridades federales a González Durán, un hombre de 32 años, quien fue uno de los escoltas directos de Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. Pasador de droga, ejecutor de enemigos del cártel del Golfo y de Los Zetas, se convirtió hasta el día de su captura en uno de los miembros de mayor confianza para El Lazca y El Cos, según la averiguación previa a la que tuvo acceso este diario, PGR/SIEDO/UEIDCS/147/2007. When arrested on 7 November, the criminal career that the feds attribute to The Hummer, 32 years of age, and one of Cárdenas Guillén's escorts (bodyguards, I suppose), ended. Drug dealer, executioner of enemies of the Gulf cartel and the Zees, until the day of his capture he became one of the members that El Lazca and El Cos most trusted, according to the prior investigation to which this newspaper had access.

After declaring that Cárdenas Guillén is the head of the Gulf cartel, he said that he belongs to both the cartel and the Zees. The boss of the former is The Shadow and the boss of the latter is Lazca, the real boss of both is Cárdenas Guillén, according to the version of he who is considered a deserter by the Army.

The Hummer explained that Cárdenas Guillén sends instructions through two defense lawyers, who in turn pass them to El Cos and El Lazca, who then execute them. It has worked this way since the capo of the Gulf cartel was stopped by soldiers on 14 March 2003 in Matamoros.

Osiel Cárdenas Guillén was extradited to the US nearly two years ago, 22 January of 2007, where he is being held in a maximum security prison, subject to various penal processes (trials, I'd say) for his assumed responsibility for drug trafficking in the US -- and again it is stated that such imprisonment, according to The Hummer, has not impeded the cartel's operations in various states; in each there are local chief that report to the chief of each state.

For example, in the state of Veracruz the chief is EL Gonzo, another of the founders of the assassin group of the Gulf cartel, and he reports directly to El 40. In all the state's important cities, The Hummer said, the police is involved in the protection of the operations of the cartel and the Zetas.

When he was captured he had about $900,000 in proceeds from selling marijuana in McAllen, Texas, money he was going to turn over to El Cos. One can imagine that El Cos is not too happy with either not getting the money, or The Hummer singing.

The dope, he said, he took into the US in tires (in a way I don't quite get) so it doesn't get wet. He also brings dope in walking with two or three other people. The quantities always are 2 or 3 tons. Of course, to this observer it is difficult to understand how four guys can carry 2 tons of anything.

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